Articles: function.
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Review
Olfactory dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases: is there a common pathological substrate?
In patients with neurodegenerative diseases, there is a spectrum of smell dysfunction ranging from severe loss, as seen in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, to relatively little loss, as seen in progressive supranuclear palsy. Given the ubiquitous but varying degrees of olfactory dysfunction among such diseases, it is conceivable that differential disruption of a common primordial neuropathological substrate causes these differences in olfactory function. ⋯ Thus, a key question is whether damage to such a substrate is the basis for the perceptual differences in olfaction or whether disease-specific or other entities, such as respiratory infections or pollution, are responsible. In light of the early preclinical onset of smell deficits in many neurodegenerative diseases, the answer to this question might provide crucial insight into the cause of disease pathology at its earliest stages of development.
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Chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain (CWP), has a considerable heritable component, which remains to be explained. Epigenetic factors may contribute to and account for some of the heritability estimate. We analysed epigenome-wide methylation using MeDIPseq in whole blood DNA from 1708 monozygotic and dizygotic Caucasian twins having CWP prevalence of 19.9%. ⋯ Bioinformatics analyses of the associated methylation bins showed enrichment for neurological pathways in CWP. We estimate that the variance explained by epigenetic factors in CWP is 6%. This, the largest study to date of DNA methylation in CWP, points towards epigenetic modification of neurological pathways in CWP and provides proof of principle of this method in teasing apart the complex risk factors for CWP.
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Provoked vestibulodynia (PVD) and painful bladder syndrome (PBS), subgroups of chronic pelvic pain syndromes (CPPS), are considered to share common biophysiological peripheral mechanisms. In addition, indications of a pronociceptive pain profile coexisting with psychological vulnerability suggest common dysfunctional pain processing and pain modulation in these 2 subgroups of CPPS. We therefore aimed at comparing the pain profile and psychological traits of patients with PVD and PBS to see whether the pain profile contributes to intersubject variability of clinical pain symptoms. ⋯ The latter was also correlated with pain catastrophizing (r = 0.504, P = 0.001) and depression symptoms (r = 0.361, P = 0.024). The findings suggest common mechanisms underlying a dysfunctional nociceptive system in both PVD and PBS. The intersubject variability in the level of dysfunction and its association with disease severity recommends a personalized pain treatment that may alleviate daily pain and dysfunction in patients with CPPS.
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Critical care nurse · Jun 2017
Interprofessional Team's Perception of Care Delivery After Implementation of a Pediatric Pain and Sedation Protocol.
Pain and agitation are common experiences of patients in pediatric cardiac intensive care units. Variability in assessments by health care providers, communication, and treatment of pain and agitation creates challenges in management of pain and sedation. ⋯ Guidelines for pain and sedation management were associated with perceived improvements in team function and patient care by members of the interprofessional team.
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Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy is one of the most common dose-limiting side effects of cancer treatment. Currently, there is no Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment available. Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) is a microtubule-associated deacetylase whose function includes regulation of α-tubulin-dependent intracellular mitochondrial transport. ⋯ HDAC6 inhibition restored the loss of intraepidermal nerve fiber density in cisplatin-treated mice. Our results demonstrate that pharmacological inhibition of HDAC6 completely reverses all the hallmarks of established cisplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy by normalization of mitochondrial function in dorsal root ganglia and nerve, and restoration of intraepidermal innervation. These results are especially promising because one of the HDAC6 inhibitors tested here is currently in clinical trials as an add-on cancer therapy, highlighting the potential for a fast clinical translation of our findings.